Safe hug child restraint device

ABSTRACT

A child restraint device for use with a vehicle seat having a back portion with a forward side and rear side, the back portion further having at least one device selected from the group consisting of head padding, adjustable shoulder belts, adjustable lap belts, and a provision for mounting the back portion to a vehicle seat. The child restraint device also has a bottom portion with a top side and bottom side. The bottom portion is foldably coupled to the back portion and has at least one device selected from the group consisting of buckle harness assembly, leg strap, and a provision for mounting the bottom portion to a vehicle seat.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application60/661,102 filed Mar. 11, 2005, and is herein incorporated by reference.This application is related to U.S. Pat. No. 6,767,058, issued Jul. 27,2004, herein incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to child and infant protectivedevices and in particular to a child restraint devices designed forattachment to a vehicle seat such as an aircraft passenger seat withoutusing vehicle seat belting.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Current child restraint devices, commonly referred to as car seats, haveonly one capacity for all ages that is not applicable for zero agechildren or infants. The majority of these devices are large hard-shellconstruction and uncomfortable to transport. Most parents complain andoppose to the weight of current seats that can only be consideredtransportable, not portable.

Additionally, current devices are not designed to safely restrain achild of any age and size. No current restraint devices can both cradlean infant in a restrained reclined position and further restrain a childor toddler in an upright-seated position.

Child restraint devices have basically been designed for use inprivately owned passenger automobiles. This use is limited to normallyone or two children over the useful life of the restraint device.Furthermore, the restraint device is designed for long stable placementsin normally one or two automobiles. As the restraint device is intendedfor long stable placements, relatively routine removal and replacementof the attached device in a passenger seat is generally a cumbersomeprocess.

Examples of previous restraint devices include U.S. Pat. No. 6,447,060issued to Vila et al. for a “Aircraft Seat Child Restraint Device”; U.S.Pat. No. 4,040,664 issued to Tanaka et al. for a “Harness Anchoring forChild Safety Seat”: U.S. Pat. No. 3,709,558 issued to Jakob for a “ChildSafety Seat”; U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,040 issued to Gannac for a “SafetyHarness for Use By a Child In a Vehicle”; U.S. Pat. No. 3,321,247 issuedto Dillender for a “Child's Safety Harness”; U.S. Pat. No. 3,301,594issued to Pukish for a “Safety Harness”; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,125,375issued to Bird et al. for a “Safety Seat Harness for Vehicle”.

Between forty thousand (40,000) to fifty thousand (50,000) childrenunder the age to two travel by airplane daily in the United States.Current Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules allow children underthe age of two to be retained in parents' laps, which obviously provideslittle, if any, protection to the child during an accident or in anemergency situation.

Performance standards for child restraint systems sold in the UnitedStates are defined by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213(FMVSS-213). These criteria include protection from serious injury tothe head, chest, and legs. Conventional restraint devices used forautomobiles are inadequate for use with existing aircraft seats. Thereare important differences between airplane and automobile seats. Themain problem is the fact that the anchor point for an automobile seat islocated generally aft and below the point where the back and sittingportion of the frame members meet.

FAA's studies have shown that conventional car seats perform poorly insimulated aircraft accidents. Present standards allow for thirty-twoinch head excursion. Conventional automotive seats may not meet thesecriteria when installed in aircraft seats. Seat belts used for existingaircraft are positioned approximately ten inches forward from the pointthat the automobile seat belts are located and are four inches forwardof the seat bight. Thus, if aircraft seat belt is inserted through theslot in the back portion of the conventional restraint device a tightattachment of the device to the aircraft seat is not possible.

Thus, during an accident the loose attachment of a conventional carrestraint device to an aircraft passenger seat would cause the restraintdevice to rotate or travel forward, via rotational or translationalforces acting on the aircraft passenger seat. This scenario couldpossibly cause the child or infant disposed therein to hit his or herhead against the food tray or seat disposed in the row in front of theinfant or child. Accordingly, conventional restraint devices cannot besufficiently anchored to prevent a child's head from striking the seatahead. As such, too much forward or rotational movement is allowed. Evenwhen the forward or rotational movement is within federal standards ofthirty two inches, a child's head can still hit the seat ahead.

FAA document No. DOT/FAA/AM-94/19 entitled “The Performance of ChildRestraint Devices in Transport Airplane Passenger Seats” dated September1994 (hereinafter referred to as the “FAA Report”) reports that lapbelts for automobiles are attached at locations that are geometricallydifferent from a typical airplane passenger seat. Inboard and outboardbelt anchor points on an automotive seat are at different heights. Thelap belts on an airplane seat are usually located near a horizontallateral line passing through a cushion reference point. This differenceresults in a more vertical lap belt path over the restraint device inthe airplane seat.

Additional problems with the use of conventional restraint devices arethat modern automobile restraints use a short fixed-length strap on oneside. The tension of the belts and shoulder straps is automaticallyadjusted by the retractor mechanism in the inertia reel. Typically, anautomobile buckle is positioned to the inboard side of the occupant whenin use. Airplane passenger seat belts are manually adjusted, and therange of adjustment is limited. The buckle on an airplane passenger seatis centered over the lower abdomen when adjusted by an adult occupant.

Another problem is that the available lateral space for the installationof a child restraint device on airplane seats is limited to the distancebetween the arm rests. Typically, this distance is 16.5 to 17.5 incheson economy class seats. On most economy class seats the arm rests can beraised to stowed position which provides additional space. However,seats in some rows have non-stowable arm rests. Thus, space requirementsare also an important consideration for the child restraint device.

The FAA Report found that conventional forward facing restraint deviceswere unacceptably loose when attached to an airplane passenger seat dueto vertical path of the lap belt securing the device to seat. Thevertical path of the lap belt is created by the lap belt anchor point ofthe airplane seat. During testing, the restraint device was able to moveforward approximately six inches, even with the lap belt adjusted to itsminimum length. This loosely secured conventional child restraint deviceresulted in poor performance during testing and could cause seriousinjury in use. The FAA report labeled the poor interface with airplanelap belts which resulted in a very loose fit as a “misuse condition.”

The FAA Report also found conventional harnesses and backless boosterseats to also be dangerous for aviation use. The harnesses also allowedtoo much room for movement. It was found that due to the limitedadjustment range and anchor location of the airplane seat lap belts, theharness restraint could not satisfactorily restrain the motion of atypical three year old child. The loose tensions of the lap belts didnot provide secure restraint utilizing the harness. As to booster seats,airline seat backs, are designed to rotate forward. As the child boosterseat are backless, in a crash a child could be crushed between thebooster seat and the seat back. The FAA Report also found that thebooster seat could not be correctly installed in an airplane seat andthat the child occupant could be exposed to potential abdominal injurydue to the combined effects of forces imparted from the aft row occupantand the seat back breakover.

The FAA Report concluded that the performance of certain types of childrestraint devices, currently available, do not enhance the level ofsafety for children in transport airplane passenger seats and that theexpectation of equivalent protection for children restrained in certaintypes of child restraint device traveling by automobile can not be metin an airplane seat. FAA Report. One of the stated reasons for thesenegative results is that the restraint devices are designed to meetautomotive requirements, which do not necessarily adapt properly to anairplane seat. Airplane seat belts differ in anchor point geometry,tension adjustment, and buckle hardware. The lap belt anchor pointgeometry on airplane seats does not afford effective restraint offorward excursion of the occupant with this type of child restraint.These differences adversely affect the performance of child restraintdevices designed primarily for the automobile interior.

Furthermore, any modification to any part of an aircraft requiresextensive testing to be performed per strict aviation regulations. Thisis in addition to the cost and time which is involved for such testingand modifications of a new aircraft seat, as well as the time involvedin obtaining governmental approval. Thus, the possibility of changingthe position of seat belts on existing airline passenger seats, to makeuse with car restraint devices safe, is not practical.

Accordingly, what is needed in the art, is a child restraint devicewhich can be safely utilized with an existing aircraft passenger in aforward facing, optionally without using the aircraft seat or lap belt.It is therefore, to the effective resolution of the aforementionedproblems and shortcomings that the present invention is directed.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a lightweight foldable child restraint devicehaving restraint capacity for children of all ages, i.e. zero agechildren or infants to toddlers. In an emergency situation, therestraint device will not rotate or travel forward, via rotational ortranslational forces acting on the aircraft passenger seat, therebypreventing head contact against the food tray or seat disposed in therow in front of the infant or child.

The present invention also provides an all-age child restraint devicewhich can be used with an existing seat of a transportation device suchas an aircraft passenger seat.

In all embodiments, the present invention child restraint device isdesigned for use primarily by common carriers and public transportationauthorities with a responsibility for carriage of small children andinfants coincident with one or more family members. The child restraintdevice is designed for use by many children over the operating life ofthe device. The device is also designed to accommodate the varioussizes, strengths, weights and shapes of small children and infants. Thepresent invention is easily installed onto an existing seat, while alsoproviding for quick release of the child in emergency situations. Therestraint device is secured to the vehicle seat without using aconventional seat belt or seat and shoulder belt combination. Therestraint device is secured to the vehicle seat using removablestrapping. All strapping can be durable elastic type with or withouthook-and-loop fasteners.

The invention comprises a child restraint device for use with a vehicleseat having a back portion with a forward side and rear side, the backportion further having at least one device selected from the groupconsisting of head padding, adjustable shoulder belts, adjustable lapbelts, and a means for mounting said back portion to a vehicle seat. Thechild restraint device also has a bottom portion with a top side andbottom side. The bottom portion is foldably coupled to the back portionand has at least one device selected from the group consisting of buckleharness assembly, leg strap, and a means for mounting said bottomportion to a vehicle seat.

Accordingly, it is an advantage of the present invention to provide achild and infant restraint device that can be safely utilized intransportation vehicles, including with airline passenger seats.

It is still another advantage of the present invention to provide achild and infant restraint device that is secured to a conventionalairline passenger seat without any modification of the passenger seat.

It is another advantage of the present invention to provide a child andinfant restraint device that does not use existing vehicle seat belt orseat and shoulder belt combination.

It is yet a further advantage of the present invention to provide achild and infant restraint device that is foldable and easilytransported and stored.

It is still another advantage of the present invention to provide achild and infant restraint device that is designed for use by variouschildren and infants and frequent and quick securement and removal froma passenger seat.

It is yet still another advantage of the present invention to provide achild and infant restraint device that is designed to accommodatechildren and infants of various heights and weights.

It is still a further advantage of the present invention to provide achild and infant restraint device that is easy to safely secure andremove from a passenger seat under emergency conditions.

It is yet still a further advantage of the present invention to providea basinet portion to safely secure infants in a passenger seat.

In accordance with these and other objects which will become apparenthereinafter, the instant invention will now be described with particularreference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the portable safe hug restraint devicein an open flat position.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the portable safe hug restraint device in anopen flat position.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the portable restraint device in theoccupancy position.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the portable restraint device folded fortransporting.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the portable restraint device folded fortransporting.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows the child restraint device in an open flat position wherethe back portion 12 is opened flat and coupled to the bottom portion 14using a flexible coupling 13. The back portion 12 has adjustable headpadding 15 that adjusts to the height and size of the child. Theadjustable head padding 15 can be attached to the back portion 12 usingsuitable means such as hook-and-loop fasteners. Adjustable shoulderstraps 16 mount through multiple shoulder strap cutouts 17 in the backportion 12 positioned to align the straps for snug shoulder restraint ofthe child. A shoulder strap chest clip further holds the straps snug tothe child. Adjustable lap belts 18 are positioned in lap belt cutouts 19enabling snug lap restraint of the child. Back and bottom mountingstraps 11 secure the child restraint device to the vehicle seat. Thebottom portion 14 has a leg strap 10 for restraining leg motion of thechild. A buckle harness assembly 20 is disposed in the bottom portion 14through an assembly cutout 21 aligned generally with the crotch of thechild. The buckle harness assembly 20 provides secure connection pointsfor the shoulder belts 16 and the lap belts 18. To secure infants,cross-strapping 22 is used to restrain infants while lying in a proneposition in the bottom portion 14. A toddler seat 23 is secured to theback portion 12 and can be folded flat against the back portion 12 whennot needed.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the portable restraint device in an unfoldedposition. The back portion 12 is opened flat and coupled to the bottomportion 14 using a flexible coupling 13. The back portion 12 has anadjustable head restraint 15 that adjusts to the height and size of thechild. The adjustable head restraint 15 can be attached to the backportion 12 using suitable means such as hook-and-loop fasteners.Adjustable shoulder straps 16 mount through multiple shoulder strapcutouts 17 in the back portion 12 positioned to align the straps forsnug shoulder restraint of the child. A shoulder strap chest clipfurther holds the straps snug to the child. Adjustable lap belts 18 arepositioned in lap belt cutouts 19 enabling snug lap restraint of thechild. Back and bottom mounting straps 11 secure the child restraintdevice to the vehicle seat. The bottom portion 14 has a leg strap 10 forrestraining leg motion of the child. A buckle harness assembly 20 ispositioned in the bottom portion 14 through an assembly cutout 21aligned generally with the crotch of the child. The buckle harnessassembly 20 provides secure connection points for the shoulder belts 16and the lap belts 18. To secure infants, cross-strapping 22 is used torestrain infants while lying in a prone position in the bottom portion14. A toddler seat 23 is secured to the back portion 12 and can befolded flat against the back portion 12 when not needed.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the portable restraint device in theoccupancy position.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the portable restraint device folded fortransporting. A diaper pouch 41 is optionally mounted to the rear sideof the back portion for transporting diapers and such.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the portable restraint device folded fortransporting.

The instant invention has been shown and described herein in what isconsidered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment. It isrecognized, however, that departures may be made therefrom within thescope of the invention and that obvious modifications will occur to aperson skilled in the art.

1. A child restraint device for use with a vehicle seat comprising; aback portion having a forward side and rear side, said back portionfurther comprising at least one device selected from the groupconsisting of head padding, adjustable shoulder belts, adjustable lapbelts, and a first means for mounting said back portion to a vehicleseat, and a bottom portion foldably coupled to said back portion, saidbottom portion having a top side and bottom side, said bottom portionincluding a buckle harness assembly, leg strap, cross-strapping and asecond means for mounting said bottom portion to a vehicle seat.
 2. Achild restraint device of claim 1 wherein said head padding isadjustably disposed to the forward side of said back portion.
 3. A childrestraint device of claim 1 wherein said adjustable shoulder beltsfurther comprises at least two adjustable shoulder belts removablydisposed through at least two shoulder belt cutouts.
 4. A childrestraint device of claim 1 wherein said adjustable lap belt furthercomprises at least two adjustable lap belts removably disposed throughat least two lap belt cutouts.
 5. A child restraint device of claim 1wherein said first means and said second means for mounting furthercomprises at least two mounting straps.
 6. A child restraint device ofclaim 1 wherein said buckle harness assembly is removably disposedthrough a buckle harness assembly cutout.
 7. A child restraint device ofclaim 1 wherein said leg strap is removably disposed on said top side ofsaid bottom portion.
 8. A child restraint device of claim 1 furthercomprising a diaper pouch removably disposed to said rear side of saidback portion.
 9. A child restraint device of claim 1 further comprisingsaid cross-strapping removably disposed on said top side of said bottomportion.
 10. A child restraint device of claim 1 further comprising atoddler seat removably disposed to said forward side of said backportion.